English: US vs. British

Discussion in 'Linguistics' started by leopold, Apr 16, 2011.

  1. quinnsong Valued Senior Member

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    Well I am off to University in my nappies! Hope I do not get nicked!
     
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  3. Asguard Kiss my dark side Valued Senior Member

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    I always find it irritating that my computer wont let me use a British English dictionary. It always wants to use US English. Funny story, I was talking to a Guy from Texas on MSN and he asked me where I was from. I told him Australia to which he replied "where in the US is that?" I told him its not in the US and his response was " but you speak American"

    Also I was watching balls of steel and the Guy had this spelling show that he ran in the US and he asks how to spell colour. The Guy spells it color and he failed him for it

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    that show is funny as hell
     
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  5. superstring01 Moderator

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    I need to catch a few more Australian shows. I've watched PM's questions and Kath and Kim (a few times, and not the horrible American version). But there are only so many foreign shows and movies we get here. They are almost always Canadian (which is pretty much indistinguishable) and British.

    In the instances where we get a Canadian programme, the accent is almost exactly the same, but the police uniforms and occasional terms are off by just enough to make us think we're seeing a series from a bizarro universe. It's funny. I was watching a few Canadian home shows (like home makeovers, reconstruction, etc; like "Holmes on Holmes", "Income Property" or "Sarah's House") and the prices they quote for work is SOOOO astronomical that I kept thinking, "Where the fuck are they!!!".

    Also, I watched the show "Flashpoint" (about a Canadian special police task force uses) with my parents when it first aired. In it--of course--they used the occasional Westminster Terminology that threw my parents for a loop. It was amusing watching their bewilderment (they'd never watch a foreign programme of their own volition (tricked'em I did!!!). I caught on pretty quick (I'm the snooty, worldly fellow that in other nation's is appreciated, but in the US is looked upon with bewilderment, like: "Why would you ever want to know anything about what goes on outside the US, much less go there!!!?). I had to explain the adjusted terminology to them.

    And, of course, there's "Law & Order|UK" which is just different enough but similar enough to be delightful.

    ~String
     
    Last edited: Apr 20, 2011
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  7. NCDane Registered Senior Member

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    There is some misunderstanding here. In the US "pick (you) up"
    has many meanings:

    Definitions of "pick up"

    ...but none have to do with pregnancy.



    "Knock up" has had the same meaning in the US since 1813 at least:

    Etymology of "knock up"
     
  8. quinnsong Valued Senior Member

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    Lol! Sounds about right.
     
  9. chimpkin C'mon, get happy! Registered Senior Member

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    On behalf of the thinking part of Texas, I offer my apologies. It's a very small part, but I nonetheless offer it.

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  10. Asguard Kiss my dark side Valued Senior Member

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    It wasn't the lack of awearness of places outside the US, that's just sad. The ammusing thing is the fact that he didn't even know what language HE spoke.

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  11. chimpkin C'mon, get happy! Registered Senior Member

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    Whay shure 'E deid, 'E spoke 'Murkin! Yeah!

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    I don't imagine the show "King of the hill" ever caught on outside of the US, but the few times I watched it, I was like, "Yeah, I know these people."

    Boomauer and Dribble especially, but every character on the show.
     
    Last edited: Apr 20, 2011
  12. John99 Banned Banned

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    22,046
    Spell the way you want. You want to put that extra u in there, for whatever reason, then by all means do so.
     
  13. John99 Banned Banned

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    Doesnt matter. It isnt nice to make fun of people.
     
  14. phlogistician Banned Banned

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    We do use the term 'wrench' but sparingly, and I don't think it's an Americanisation. Generally, smaller tools with fixed apertures would be 'spanners':

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    but larger, adjustables would be termed 'wrenches', although there's the 'Hoover' effect at play here, and a generic term for these in the UK is also a 'Stillson':

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    Then to confuse matters, one of these, which could be up to 12" long ish:

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    Would be called an 'adjustable spanner'.
     
  15. John99 Banned Banned

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    1- open end
    2- pipe wrench\monkey wrench
    3- adjustagble wrench

    When you force twist something you wrench it.
     
  16. chimpkin C'mon, get happy! Registered Senior Member

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    Do they have "cheater bars?" in Britain?
    Basically, you stick a long pipe on the end of your ratchet or wrench to get leverage...
     
  17. John99 Banned Banned

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    yes, but we dont know what its called yet...LOL.
     
  18. phlogistician Banned Banned

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    Never heard that being used, .. but we call the bar you insert into a box spanner a 'Tommy Bar':

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  19. Cifo Day destroys the night, Registered Senior Member

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    685
    As a northerner, I didn’t know about southern “buggy”. :bugeye: However, I've heard that instead of soda, some Americans drink pop, sodapop, tonic, soft drink and even a coke (regardless of the brand).

    Then there’s the double-confusing US undershirt = UK vest but also US vest = UK waistcoat (pronounced as weskit).

    Is there still the US water heater = UK geyser difference?

    Also US attic = UK garret, and also US rotary = UK roundabout, but as wild and crazy as Americans are, we would never make something like the Swindon Magic Roundabout.

    In the UK, they go to hospital, but in the US, we go to the hospital, although we do go to school.

    When at school, we study physics, but in the UK, they read physics. We might have spelled a word wrong, but they spelt it wrong.

    Then there's the puzzling UK whilst, where a readily available UK while seems to exist. When I don't have a clue, they haven't a clue.

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    I read that, during WW2, American men dating British women might quickly end up in the sack with both claiming the other was “fast”. Turns out that Americans thought nothing of kissing, whereas the British considered kissing as “very serious”. So the men unreservedly kissed the women, and the women thought they were practically married, so into the sack they might go!

    BTW, it seems typical to me that US World War Two = UK Second World War

    And their horses run "the wrong way" around their racetracks. Go figure!
     
  20. Dywyddyr Penguinaciously duckalicious. Valued Senior Member

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    19,252
    New one to me. A geyser is a natural high-pressure "spring".

    Hmm, an attic is the space at the top of the house where you stuff all the things you'll find a use for one day. A garret is more of an opened-out (and lit) attic for an artist to work/ live in.

    Not quite. We study (or learn) physics at school but read it at university.

    What a silly idea! Our horses run forwards, the same as anywhere else.
     
  21. superstring01 Moderator

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    I grudginly admit that a lot of Americans I know call their language "American".

    Though, I will admit, this isn't totally unexpected. Long story short, at the current moment, the US is at the top of the global food chain. There's just no reason for those of lower intelligence and/or lower information awareness to have an awareness of what's going on in the world. This, coupled with the fact that the US is just pretty goddamned huge, and our two neighbors are huge (one of which is a spring break destination and the other speaks "American" almost like the rest of us), means that most people's "world" is sadly very small.

    ~String
     
  22. Asguard Kiss my dark side Valued Senior Member

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    Both of you are so weird even your water goes round the wrong way

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    and while we are on that it snows in July and Christmas should be around 30 C

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    BTW its autumn, not "fall"

    Oh and I pity scientists in the US, the rest of us use the metric system in general society as well as in science where as the US scientist has to constantly convert everything from one to the other. The metric system is designed to be simple and easy to change from one unit to another. For instance 10 cm x 10 cm x 10cm =1 L which if water = 1 kg which freezes at 0C and boils at 100. Easy
     
    Last edited: Apr 20, 2011
  23. Pinwheel Banned Banned

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    color/colour.
     

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